Editor's Note: On Aug. 22, 2020, this story ran on Connect-Bridgeport to mark the 50th anniversary of the tornado that ran through our city, creating a trail of damage. It's not a good memory, but it's part of our history. The Connect-Bridgeport staff has selected this story as the #12 Top Feature Story of the Year. 

 

Many people were out for the evening. Many people were already in bed. Some, like Bridgeport’s Dick Duez, was up watching a little late evening television.

 

He never knew, nor did he or anyone else have a warning, about what happened 50 years ago this day. A tornado touched down in the City of Bridgeport doing damage to buildings and property, but fortunately, not taking any lives or seriously injuring anyone.

 

News reports from that day say the tornado hit the city just after 11 p.m. Duez said he was in the home he still lives in today at the time.

 

“We had lived in Bridgeport before and we had just moved back on May 3, so we were only here a few months,” said Duez. “When I went to bed, I remember it was really raining and storming outside.”

 

Before he went to sleep, Duez’s curiosity about the storm had gotten the best of him. His side of the bed was where the window was located so he decided to look outside, and he realized later what he was looking at.

 

“There was just a ton of lighting, and it was one right after another. I was looking south toward Philadelphia Avenue, and remember it was such a strange green color outside where I was looking,” said Duez. “What I realized later and didn’t know at the time is that I was looking at the lighting strikes through the tornado.”

 

While that seemed odd, something else did a few hours later. After going back to bed, he was awoken by the phone.

 

“At 3 a.m., I got a call from a buddy in Clarksburg who asked if I was okay. I asked him why, and he said, ‘you had a tornado.’ I couldn’t believe it because I didn’t feel anything and we still had power,” said Duez.

 

Duez was still worried. His parents lived on Fifth Street and he jumped in his car, headed down Stout Street toward Philadelphia. Once he got to the intersection of Philadelphia and Virginia Avenue, he knew something was wrong.

 

“My God, there were just limbs and pieces of trees everywhere; all over the road. We had power a few blocks away, but there was no power here,” said Duez. “It was totally black.”

 

From the best he can recall, and from talking to multiple people then and through the years, Duez said he believes it came across where the Green Parrott was located, by the former Ace Hardware, through Water Street and up toward Virginia Avenue where it eventually hit Simpson Creek Baptist Church and doing damage to that building.

 

“I went toward the Methodist church and there were fire trucks from all over, but you just couldn’t see much. I was more worried about getting to my parents to see if they were okay,” said Duez.

 

They were. He said they were shocked to learn there was a tornado.

 

“It didn’t hit either of our properties. They had no damage, and I had damage to a down spout,” said Duez, who was 26 at the time.

 

Once daylight came around, Duez did what he is known for today. He went to take some photos.

 

“The only bad thing was I only had four shots in my camera,” said Duez, who said there was debris all over town.

 

He noted that there was car that somehow made it from Cherry Street to Broadway – a Volkswagen Beetle – that was being turned over. He also said trees were down everywhere, including several large pine trees at the Bridgeport Cemetery.

 

“It was amazing to see those huge trees down with their roots sticking up in the air,” said Duez.

 

Philadelphia Avenue seemed to take the brunt of the major damage with the church’s new classrooms wrecked and additional damage to the roof and steeple. Along with Cherry Street and Broadway, Dunkin Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue all suffered damage according to more than one historic account.

 

“There was one other thing I won’t forget. It rained all day, which isn’t unusual. The rain, though, was a strange and fine misty rain that I’ve never seen before or since,” said Duez. “I know if I see it again that there’s a possibility of another tornado.”

 

Editor’s Note:Photos courtesy of Dick Duez. If you have photos or stories from that day, please add in the comment section below.